Monthly Archives: February 2014

Prior to this, I was already on an ITX build, using the Realan E-Q6, which is actually a more compact case than the H1.S. But in many ways it is an inferior product: poor fit, inadequate tolerances, and a poorly located DC jack. I was also pushed along by a few other motivations: a desire to try a thin-ITX build, and to get a new motherboard that properly supports 1440p (it seems that these days the only way to ensure this is to get a high-end motherboard that has Displayport). But those are stories for another post.

In the box #

The HDPlex H1.S comes with a hefty price tag ($179), but is physically as dense as that price suggests, for a thin-ITX case. It comes with assembly required, so be prepared to spend the better part of an afternoon on this.

The various options, mounting plates and screws come in a velvet accessory bag. Classy. That double-stranded USB short cable looks like it could be a lot of trouble though …

The HDPlex comes with some optionals: for power, one can opt to go with an external 19V AC adapter for thin-ITX, or an internal 120W open-frame adapter that plugs in to the 2-pin power socket on thin-ITX boards. I went with the latter, and also bundled in a PCIe ×1 riser card.

Assembly #

Bundled instructions for assembling the H1.S are skimpy at best. It starts out recommending the “M4×6 flat head HEX screws” for attaching the rubber feet to the bottom, and subsequently fails to mention what screws to use (“install the motherboard to the H1.S chassis bottom plate”), until finally deigning to mention that the aluminium top plate should be attached with M3×6 screws. Some experience with PC assembly is definitely required, and even then expect to be spending time in Google Images looking up pictures of screws. This is definitely not a product for first-time small-form-factor builders.

Got a misshapen screw on the 3-pin power socket. Not important enough for returns so I didn’t send it back.

Installing the heatpipes is possibly the most arduous part of the assembly. Quite a lot of thermal paste is needed for lining the grooves into which the heatpipes will fit. I recommend putting everything in place first and checking for blockage before locking the layout in.

Testing for fit—no thermal grease applied yet. On the right side, had to fit the heatpipes between the internal USB3 and front panel pins.

Locking it in. The heatpipes are secured to the side panels by flat aluminium plates, and to the CPU cooling block by a grooved aluminium top plate. Bend those heat pipes carefully.

Now the USB3 cable begins to look painful. Because of the way it puts two cables side by side, there is no easy way to bend it if your motherboard’s USB3 header is not placed just right. I ended up curling them later on (next pic).

I also had to cut off two pins on the power cable to fit it into the input jack, which was right next to one of the rear panel ports.

4-pin 19V input. Lopped off 2 pins to fit the 2-pin receptacle.

Fitting the 2-pin receptacle. DC 19V input jack is right behind.

A 2.5″ disk mounting plate is provided. Fits 2 disks. This cannot be used simultaneously with a full-length PCIe card. I’m using it with a 2.5″ SSD temporarily while waiting for my mSATA disk to arrive.

SSD mounting plate attached

Once the case starts coming together, all the little abovementioned oversights start to melt away. The case is beautifully machined, and things fit just right. The cables are as long as they need to be (excepting the USB3 header cable), and there is a heft to the whole assembly that feels really premium.

Sandisk X110 256GB SSD

With the mSATA disk in place, this becomes a truly minimalist build. Would have been nice with some cable management grooves in those thick aluminium plates, but I’m really asking for the stars at this point.

Complete build, minus PCIe card and wifi antennae

First Impressions #

It looks right at home on the desk, below the home-built 27″ monitor shelf.

I’m still getting to the complete silence that ensues when I press the power button. The usual whooosh of fans spinning up is no longer there.

The power LED on the HDPlex H1.S is on the left, hidden between the frontplate and one of the fins. It’s only noticeable when looking at it from the left, or if something reflects that LED light. Very pleasing, understated styling for a self-built system; physical buttons only need to be obvious for off-the-shelf systems that can’t expect users to know where everything is.

Thermal performance is pretty impressive. On the website, Larry claims the H1.S supports “TDP up to 55W CPU”. In my testing with the i5-4440S (65W), the system idles at 47°C, and at load (x264 encoding) it goes up to 65°C. Pretty impressive considering ambient temperatures here are about 29°C.

The mSATA disk is a different issue though. It idles at around 50°C, and at load I have seen it go up to 75°C! This is not the H1.S’s fault; the X110 apparently consumes up to 5.2W on disk load. I would recommend getting an mSATA disk with lower power consumption, so that it won’t heat up too much. Intel’s 530 mSATA disk is the leader in this area, with a load power of up to 2.6W.

Conclusion #

I don’t have any Editor Awards to give out, but here’s a big thank you to Larry for such a fantastic product. If he has any plans for NUC/BRIX cases, my eyes are definitely peeled

HDPLEX H1.S with mobile socket PGA988 build
Here’s my build of my H1.S system using components for a mobile processor.
The purpose I had in mind was for a passive network appliance, without sacrificing processor power.

Chassis
The quality of the H1S chassis is exceptional. The amount of care and detail put into every component is evident. Every part fit in snugly, and the thick aluminium case panels give it a strong sturdy feel. (Unlike those with thin panels which feel like they would warp and bend easily.)

However during the build, I faced 2 issues: [both issues solved 13/Feb]
Defective PSU combo does not support additional SATA devices [solved]
Need to affix H1S heatpipe solution to a 51mm form factor. [solved]
I had expected to face some difficulty here as I had chosen a “non-mainstream” motherboard with a unconventional CPU choice. However, the solution described later isn’t too difficult given that the H1S has been very well designed to take advantage of the solution.

I will describe the issues in more detail in the subsequent sections, and how they are eventually solved.

The “Franken-build” Processor
I wanted to use a low TDP mobile processor (<35W) hence I chose a motherboard that has a PGA988 socket. This allows me to use the range of mobile Intel processors. In addition, I had gone one step further and obtained a 17W TDP chip. Some folks will know that the 17W chips are only available in the BGA form factor, which is unavailable to retail buyers and is only sold direct to laptop manufacturers. After some trouble, I had managed to procure a BGA-to-PGA converted chip. I got the i7-3687U which is probably the most powerful 17W chip I could get my hands on that works well with our build.

(You can see the BGA chip mounted on a PCB which is then mounted in the PGA socket.)

The PGA 51mm mounting issue

The PGA socket uses a 51mm cooling form factor – in which the corner holes of the H1S copper plate are perfectly aligned! However, the problem crops up that there is no easy way to mount the copper plate to the motherboard

The bundled mounting brackets provided cannot be used (since these are not catered for the 51mm solution). This being the case, I had reverted to using the stock provided heatsink+sink combo to test out the motherboard first.

PSU SATA Power
I hit the issue that the SATA device cannot be used when connected to the power. The system would not POST if I tried to bootup with a SATA device. The after-sales service is excellent – Larry has been very prompt in checking with me on the issue and responsive in addressing this. [solved]

I had captured 2 videos to show the problem.
Unsuccessful powerup with SATA device

Successful powerup without SATA device

EDIT:
I received the PSU combo package and tried the new items. It resolved the issue for the SATA power issue. I traced further, and found that it was the old SATA power cable that was faulty.

Solution to the PGA 51mm mounting

After trying out different ways and means to fit the copper block to the CPU, it seems that a solution to the CPU cooling could potentially be reached if I could mount the copper heatsink using M3 screws while keeping them flushed below the surface. I wanted to maintain the use of the M3 mounting posts to hold my SSD on top of the aluminium block.

In short, the aim is to keep the “head” of the screw below the surface.

This is the machining work needed to be done to the copper block.

It was only after some time of checking around that I managed to find a machine shop to make the change for me. This is the result.

I was then able to mount the copper block to the CPU using M3 screws. I used the H1S insulation with additional nuts and washers to pad the back of the motherboard.

Next, I started positioning the 6 heatpipes. Some required a small amount of bending to fit snugly into the grooves. The top aluminium block was then screwed on.

It was good that the M3 mount posts were not blocked, which would then allow me to mount the SSD mounting cage.

The clearance was however insufficient if you had added a Jetway daughterboard. I was instead able to replace those with countersunk M3 screws padded with a sufficient amount of washers and nuts.

The build is finally complete.

Temperature and Power Readings
I had taken some temperature measurements throughout the build process. As I was unable to run a full OS (since I can’t attach any SATA device while waiting for the PSU replacement), I booted up my Linux Mint (Petra) LiveCD to give the system a quick spin.

BEFORE: using the stock heatsink+fan combo (and was noisy as anything)

Temperatures had easily reached 71 C, and I was not comfortable with loading the CPU to 100% to find the limits of the max temperature reached.

AFTER: using all 6 of the H1S heatpipes (in absolute silence)

At idle, the system stays at a constant 45-48 C (fluctuates a little)
Temperatures maxed out at 60 C when the CPU was maxed to 100%.
This was achieved while viewing 3x 1080p video playback simultaneously (for over 3+ hours)
(i) Youtube video on firefox
(ii) VLC (software decoding)
(iii) Totem

Throughout the usage, I measured the power draw using my trusty Killawatt plug. It registered a max of 36.5W with the CPU maxed out at 100%.

Wrap-up
I plan to take more readings of the usage and temperatures under Windows since it would likely have better support for CPU power savings.

Does anyone have any recommendation for benchmarking software to run?

PS: Larry, Keep up the great work! I decided to start a separate thread since you mentioned that this would be the first HDPLEX H1.S system with a mobile socket.

Overall the build turned out exactly as I wanted. The only snafus were:

* the 4-pin power connector could not be plugged in to the 2-pin
ATX19V connector on the mobo as the external power receptable
ended up underneath the unused two pins on the cable. Sawing
off the unused pins solved the problem.

* the expansion card collided with the SSD mounting plate.
Modifying the plate by bending one side holder flat and putting some
non-conductive tape on top of it made it into a perfect support
for the expansion card instead! No problem mounting the SSD in
the upper position instead. Actually gave place for cable routing
beneth the SSD also as an added bonus.

* the PCIEx4 hard riser is a bit too short. I fear it will work itself
loose from the mobo when transporting the probe. I will change
the hard riser into a soft one as soon as I have the opportunity.

Chassis Review:
Overall, extremely pleased with the chassis, components selected, and their marriage. Build took several hours as it’s tricky and the instruction manuals, both chassis and MB, were poorly written. Would not recommend this project for a first time builder. MB would not boot due to 2d memory dimm slot being bad. Had to disassemble heat pipes twice during non-boot troubleshooting process. Disassembly was painless and fairly easy (buy a fingernail brush to get that thermal grease off your fingers!). The build went fairly quickly with only a few hiccups caused mostly by the MB setup and configuration. The side USB 3.0 ports are definitely nice to have for an IR dongle or external hard drive (OS install!). The power button on the side is easy to access and smooth to use. No front panel for audio but using HDMI anyway so who needs those unsightly holes. Chassis is visually stunning and the plain smooth front is simple, refined, and sleek. The side, front, and back panels fit together perfectly. The CPU cooler and its aluminum HDPLEX stenciled cover fit snuggly. The heat pipes and their side panel plates work and install quickly and flawlessly. However, the Gigabytes thin ITX MB’s Sata power coupler does slightly interfere with one heat pipe. Once finished, the internal layout makes sense and the looks are bound to get compliments!

Pro(s):
Totally Silent!
Quality chassis components.
Awesome technical support from HDPLEX. Larry is da man!
Packing was great.
All chassis parts are included and cooling works as advertised!

Con(s):
Shipping was abysmal. Took much longer than anticipated!
One of the AC Plug screw hole on chassis back plate was stripped by the factory (solution: Used similar screw with mini-nuts on the inside of chassis).
IR Device (Taocco) is a piece of junk. Installed it anyway but ended up using the Rosewill RHRC-11002 dongle on side USB 3.0 port. Works great! Love the MCE remote that HDPLEX sends (have 6 similar ones – Phillips/OrigenAE RC197).
Instruction manual was not clear in several places. Screw bags should be numbered and manual should reference bag number.
Moderate PC build expertise needed.
Case is hot! The good news is that it’s cooling properly. The bad news is it’s hot (mostly a tuner card issue – see other cons not related to chassis below)!
Pricey (but worth every penny!)

Other Con(s) (not related to HDPLEX Chassis):
Not sure why Gigabyte MB would not work with 2nd 8GB dimm. Board is supposed to take 16GB. Likely 2d dimm slot defective. But 8GB of memory will do!
CPU and Ceton card will probably not last long with the heat (although a Wesena ITX-6 still going strong for 2+ years that also gets super-hot w/i5 CPU and Ceton! If I had to start from scratch, I’d probably go with the external USB Ceton to dissipate the heat as 90% of the heat is coming from the Ceton card. Not the CPU, PSU, or HD.
Gigabyte manual is totally worthless (missing important items like front panel configuration). Manual is basically two pages and there is not another in Gigabytes downloads!
Gigabyte USB 3 Driver install application buggy (solution: Install driver manually).
Ceton card is a tight fit with the SSD rack mount. You have to not use one of the SSD mounting screws because you need to bend one of the rack’s mounting points. However the Ceton card will fit! Bend SSD rack and a slight angle of PCI card on riser will cause it all to come together. This results in a tiny gap between the Ceton PCI plate and chassis (thumb screw closes gap to under ¼ cm.
Did I mention already that I hate thermal paste?

Conclusion:
The case is beautiful and quality made!
The system boots quickly and runs fast.
It cools as advertised!
There are no HD streaming delays noticeable on the system or its extenders.
The ultimate question is would I buy an HDPLEX H1.S again? Yes I would!!!

My setup will be used just for audiophile grade bit perfect music reproduction as you can see on the second photo.
There you can see the absolutely silent H1 lined up with the rest of my gear (DAC, Preamplifier and Amplifier from Naim, Blu-Ray A/V from Oppo, omnidirectional loudspeaker from MBL Audio, subwoofer from REL acoustic and plasma TV from Samsung).

The H1.S from HDPLEX is a unique product. It’s the only fanless mini-ITX / Thin mini-ITX case available, and offers an unmatched 6 heat pipes cooling system. Build quality is nothing short of spectacular, with a nice mix of rugged, heavy aluminium alloy and clean, elegant lines.

The chassis comes as a self-assembly kit (we were not expecting this), fortunately it only took us less than 10 minutes to build the case itself. Also included in our package were the optional remote, HDPLEX internal 120W AC-DC adapter and HDPLEX 150W DC-ATX converter.

Building a whole system is detailed in the booklet and online and is pretty straightforward. The H1.S is available for $179 (free shipping to USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and Hong Kong).